


Fear

by Writinginstardust



Series: Fictober 2019 [31]
Category: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Genre: Alex is the wimp in the relationship, Comfort, Cuddling, M/M, Making Out, horror movie marathon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 10:14:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21251729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writinginstardust/pseuds/Writinginstardust
Summary: It’s Halloween and Alex has planned a horror movie marathon for him and Henry. The only Problem is, he’s terrified of them. But he can’t let Henry know that. He’ll just have to grin and bear it.





	Fear

“Boo!” Alex shrieked and fell out of his desk chair, landing on his ass on the hardwood floor with a thump. He glared up at Henry who was laughing at his prank.

“I hate you,” he grumbled and took Henry’s outstretched hand. The older boy pulled him back to his feet and into his arms, grinning into the kiss he pressed to Alex’s temple.

“I love you too. But this does not bode well for your little horror movie night.”

“You just caught me off-guard,” Alex said defensively. “I am the king of horror movies.” He was decidedly not but he wasn’t going to let Henry know that.

“Uh-huh.” Henry dragged the word out, teasing doubt in his tone. “Are you sure you want to go ahead with this? I’m not a big horror movie fan anyway. We can do something else.”

“Awh, is my big strong prince scared of ghosts? Gonna be hiding behind a pillow when the monsters come out?” Alex teased, pulling away from Henry so his taunting smirk was visible to his boyfriend. “It’s okay baby, I’ll protect you.” 

Henry rolled his eyes and took Alex’s hand, leading him to the living room and tugging him down onto the couch. Alex was secretly hoping Henry would choose to do something else since he actually was a bit of a wimp but his taunting had backfired. Now, it seemed Henry had a point to prove and this terrible idea of Alex’s was actually going to happen. And Alex…well Alex was nothing if not an obstinate little shit and there was no way he was going to admit that _he_ was the scared one.

“What do you want to watch then?” Henry asked as he pulled up the horror section on Netflix and started scrolling through.

“I don’t mind, you pick.” He grinned and prodded Henry’s side. “There’s no shame in choosing _Coraline _if you’re scared.”

“_Coraline_ is scarier than most horror movies for adults, you know?”

“True.”

“What about this one?” Henry asked, pausing his scrolling on a movie that definitely looked suitably creepy. “I heard this is one of the scariest films on here.”

Alex’s stomach dropped. He did _not_ want to watch this film but he still wasn’t ready to admit to being scared and dragged up some false bravado to tease Henry a bit more. 

“Sure, we can watch that. …If you think you can handle it.”

“That sounds like a challenge.”

“Oh it absolutely was. Let’s do this baby.” He got up and turned all the lights off, trying to calm his anxiously racing heart but only making it worse with every lamp that went out. Using the light from the TV Alex found his way back to the couch and settled against Henry’s side as he started the movie.

10 minutes in and Alex was not doing well at all. He was tense, clinging to Henry’s arm with far too much force to be casual and trying to avoid looking at the screen without Henry noticing. But the sound? He couldn’t block it out. It was terrible and had his heart pounding with adrenaline that had nowhere to go. 

It didn’t take Henry long to notice the set to Alex’s jaw or how stiff he was beside him. He smirked a little and decided to get his own back for Alex’s earlier taunting.

“You okay, love? You look a little tense.” Henry’s tone had Alex gritting his teeth. The bastard was enjoying this. Alex was absolutely not going to give him the satisfaction of admitting he was the wimp in this relationship.

“I’m fine.”

“Sure you’re not scared of the demon woman?”

“Scared? Me? Of course not,” he scoffed but his voice was too tight to be convincing. Henry raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything else. 

A lull came in the film and Alex felt himself relax a bit as the characters were finally safe for a while. He was completely unprepared for the truly terrifying jump scare that broke the calm. He managed not to scream though and would be proud of that later when he was no longer scared out of his damn mind. The horror didn’t let up after that and Alex found himself hiding his face in Henry’s shoulder and covering his ears, not particularly caring if Henry noticed anymore.

“Are you sure you’re not scared? I can turn it off if you want.” There was only a hint of smug teasing in Henry’s tone, most of it masked by concern, and Alex was thankful for that.

“I’m not scared,” he still tried to insist despite all the very obvious signs his body was giving off that disproved that. Henry couldn’t help chuckling a little at that. Of course Alex would never admit it.

“I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be trying to hide in my shoulder if you weren’t scared,” he pointed out. And because Alex was…well, Alex, instead of doing the sensible thing and asking Henry to turn the movie off, he pulled himself away and sat up, defiantly facing the screen again and trying not to look scared. He failed, of course, and Henry let out a long-suffering sigh before turning back to the screen himself. Alex was stubborn, so there was no point in trying to get him to admit the film was scary and turn it off.

It was maybe 5 seconds later that Henry found himself with Alex in his lap. A slight shriek was his only warning. He wasn’t surprised, the creepy demon thing (he hadn’t been paying enough attention to know what it was) had just gotten to a whole new level of horrifying and even Henry was struggling to keep watching. He had Alex practically shaking in his arms now though and if he weren’t so worried about him, it would be a welcome distraction.

“Hey, you okay, love?”

“No,” Alex finally admitted, pressing his face more firmly into the crook of Henry’s neck as if that could block out the sounds from the movie that were still causing him to jolt with fear.

“It’s okay. I’ve got you,” Henry whispered, turning down the volume on the TV and wrapping Alex in his arms. “Want me to turn it off now?”

“No. Just tell me when it’s over.”

“Okay.” They both stayed quiet after that, Alex slowly getting his breathing back under control and working to calm himself down while Henry stroked his back soothingly and occasionally pressed kisses to the top of his head. That was doing far more to make him feel better than any of his own attempts. A few minutes later the horror finally stopped for a bit and Alex finally relaxed again.

“It’s over,” Henry told him softly. Alex was reluctant to pull away but did so anyway and went back to watching the film as if nothing had happened, ignoring the disbelieving look Henry gave him.

“Well that wasn’t so bad,” he said nonchalantly.

“Really now?”

“Yep.”

“So you weren’t just hiding and basically shaking with fear?”

“Nope. That never happened.”

“You’re unbelievable. I’m never letting you live this down now.” Alex’s head whipped around and there was true terror back in his eyes now.

“Don’t you dare tell anyone. If Nora finds out, my life is over.”

“I’m definitely telling her.” Henry was enjoying this now. If Alex was going to be a little shit, then Henry would just have to be one back.

“Baby please.” Alex tried a different tactic, but right now the word was having no effect on Henry.

“I think June would _love_ to know about this too-” Alex cut him off with a kiss. One of the slow, deep ones that made Henry melt every time. It wasn’t exactly fair given what it did to him but Alex was not above playing dirty. Especially when it came to this. As expected Henry gave in immediately.

“Promise you won’t say anything.” Alex’s voice was low and breathy when he pulled away and Henry was barely holding onto his own sanity at the sound of it. It didn’t matter how many times Alex had spoken in that same tone, it would never stop doing funny things to his heart and stomach. He couldn’t deny Alex anything like this.

“I promise,” he whispered back before capturing Alex’s lips again. 

This was much better, Alex thought as he pushed Henry to lay on the couch and settled on top of him, not bothering to hold up his own weight and laying completely pressed against Henry’s body. He could ignore the movie this way and instead focus on Henry’s lips and how soft his hair was, how gentle but somehow still demanding his hands felt on his waist. 

Lost Henry’s touch, Alex barely noticed what was going on in the film, only jumping a few times at particularly loud scares. Henry chuckled at him each time but was quickly shut up by Alex’s mouth and he wasn’t going to protest that. Before either of them knew it the movie was over and the TV blinded them with the comparative brightness of the Netflix menu. Alex broke their kiss and propped himself up on his elbows.

“Want to watch another one?” He asked. Henry frowned.

“We didn’t even watch that one. And what we did watch scared the crap out of you.”

“Wasn’t scared,” he insisted with a glare. “ But we’ll find something less terrifying and just make out during the scary parts. This is supposed to be a movie _marathon_ after all.” 

“If you insist.” Henry flicked to the next film on the list, which only had a 1.5 star rating and really did look awful, and pressed play before turning back to Alex with a grin. “But no crying into my shoulder this time.”

“I did not cry!” Alex squawked indignantly.

“Shh, the movie is starting.” Henry was still grinning and Alex flopped back onto him, turning his head to face the TV.

It soon became apparent that the movie’s terrible rating was because it was incredibly boring and the effects budget was non-existent. After about 10 minutes, Alex couldn’t take it anymore.

“Wanna make out?” He asked Henry as the ‘monster’ pursued a guy through the woods in the slowest chase scene either of them had ever seen.

“I don’t think this counts as a ‘scary part’ Alex.”

“I know, but I’m bored.”

“We can just put another film on,” Henry suggested, a smile tugging at his lips.

“For fuck’s sake, just kiss me you asshole,” Alex groaned. He didn’t bother giving Henry the time to agree and claimed his mouth immediately. Henry enjoyed doing this far more than watching terrible movies so he didn’t hesitate to kiss back this time either. Teasing Alex was fun right up to the point when their lips finally met. Then he just wanted more of Alex and everything that came with his remarkable boyfriend and there was nothing he’d rather be doing. Alex felt the same and since there was nothing to drag either of them away, he was more than happy to kiss Henry for hours. Forever if that was an option. 

The movie ended and Alex blindly reached for the remote and clicked play on another movie, not breaking the kiss even for a second. Neither of them could tell you a single thing about that movie, they didn’t even pretend to watch it. When that film too ended, they didn’t notice. They were already asleep. Alex’s head resting on Henry’s chest over his heart, Henry’s arms wrapped tightly around Alex. 

Alex had worried he might have nightmares from the first movie but he needn’t have worried. He wouldn’t have nightmares in Henry’s arms. Henry was safe, home, a steady, comforting warmth against him. Nothing could touch him here. Not even his own mind. He had nothing to fear.


End file.
